Hollow auger coupling



J 1967 R. E. DlCKI NSON 3,301,338

HOLLOW AUGER COUPLING Filed Dec. 50, 1963 Fig.1. Fig- I I Li's- Fig.4

v INVENTOR.

. Robert E. Dickinson United States Patent 3,301,338 HOLLOW.AUGER COUPLING Robert E. Dickinson, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to M0- bile Drilling Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Dec. 30, 1963, Ser. No; 334,331

Claims. (Cl. 175-323) The present invention relates to hollow augers and to improved coupling means for hollow augers.

Certain types of hollow augersare used in various earth drilling applications wherein it is necessary or desirable to provide a smooth constant diameter passage through the auger to the bottom of the hole. Possibly the most important such application is that of earth samplings. In certain situations, it is desirable to take samples at five foot intervals for a substantial distance down into the earth. Thus, a plug may be positioned in the'lower end of the hollow auger to prevent earth moving up into the auger during-the drilling operation. When the lower end of the hollow auger has arrived at a desired depth for taking the sample, the plug is removed from the hollow interior of the auger and sampling tools are inserted down through the. auger to obtain the sample. It can be appreciated that it is desirable that the. interior of the hollow auger be smooth with no' obstructions so that the sampling tools can be easily and conveniently moved through the hollow auger.

It is present practice to manufacture hollow angers in sections of predetermined length which are connected together to make the auger longer as the drilling proceeds. It is desirable that the sections be connected to one another in such a manner that they remain firmly coupled while in the earth so that lower sections do not become disconnected while the auger is being rotated out of the earth. It is also desirable that the sections be easily disconnected after drilling has been completed.

Consequently, a primary object of the presentinvention is to provide av hollow auger including coupling means wherein adjacent sections are securely coupled to one another yet are easily uncoupled.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a hollow auger assembly having an internal hollow which is smooth and free of obstructions.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a hollow auger coupling which does not interfere with the passage of earth up the flight of the auger.

Related objects and advantages willbecome apparent as the description proceeds.

One embodiment of the invention might include a hollow auger comprising a pair of stems each having a flight secured to the external periphery thereof and an opening therethrough of constant internal diameter, one of said stems having an external thread at one end, the other of said stems having a complementary internal thread at one end, said stems being connected together by said external and internal threads with said flights in alignment with each other, radially extending projections on the external surface of said stems, said projections having aligned openings therethrough, and a pin received through said openings and blocking rotation of one of said stems relative to the other.'

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a hollow auger incorporating the improved hollow auger coupling of the present invention. 7

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged longitudinal section taken through the coupling of the auger of FIG. 1 and adjacent structure.

FlG. 3 is a horizontal section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a tapered key forming a part of the present coupling.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawing and specific language will not be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is illustrated a hollow auger which is made up of a plurality of sections 11. Each section 11 includes a tube 12 having a flight 15 secured to the external periphery thereof by welding or the like. At the opposite ends 16 and 17 of the tube 12 are fixed castings 20 and 21.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 2, the casting 21 and the casting 20 of the next lower section 11 include complementary tapered threads 22 and 25 which connect the casting 2t) and 21 together to form a coupling between the two sections 11. Each of the castings 20 and 21 has formed on the external periphery 26 and 27 thereof a thread 30 and 31 which is in alignment with the thread 15 of the respective tube 12 to which the casting is secured.

Each of the castings 20 and 21 has at one end 35 and 36 an annular internal recess 37 and 40 which surrounds a cylindrical opening 41 and 42 through the respective casting and. which fixedly receives the ends 16 and 17 of the tube. The openings 41 and 42 have the same internal diameter as the hollow interior 45 of each tube. Preferably, each tube is welded to its respective castings at the annular internal recesses 37 and 4-8.

It will be noted that with the coupling in assembled relation each of the openings 41 and 42 are aligned with one another and with the hollow interior 45 of the tubes to which they are secured whereby a constant diameter unobstructed opening is provided all the way through the hollow auger. When the male and female threads 22 and 25 have been tightened to the degree illustrated, a pair of apertures 46 and 47 in the casting 20 and 21, respectively, are aligned. The aperture 47 extends axially through a projection 50 and through the thread 31 of the female casting 21. The aperture 47 tapers from a larger arcuate slot-like shape at 51 to a smaller a-rcuate slot-like shape at 52. The aperture 46 has the same configuration at 55 as does the aperture 47 at 52 and tapers from said configuration to a smaller arcuate slotlike shape at 56. The aperture 46 is formed within a projection 57 extending radially from the casting 20. It will be noted that each of projections 50 and 57, although they do extend a substantial distance around their respective castings, are of relatively slight radial extent whereby they do not interfere with the movement of earth up the flights 15, 30 and 31.

Also, the projections 50 and 57 are positioned relatively close to the lower surface of the flight 31 in order that dirt moving up the flights moves below the projections. It is the usual practice to arrange the auger sections 11 with the male threads 22 projecting upwardly whereby the rig for driving or rotating the auger is easily coupled to the uppermost male casting. Thus, the projections 50 and 57 are located closer to the flight of the casting with the female thread than to the casting with the male thread whereby dirt moving up the flights moves below the projections.

It should be mentioned that when the coupling is in the condition illustrated in FIG. 2, the threads 22 and 25 are not tightly screwed together. Therefore, they may be easily unscrewed by relative rotation in the proper direction. It is desirable, however, that there be no relative rotation between the casting 20 and 21 when the hollow auger is in the hole. Tapered pin 60 which is comple- .mentary in shape to the apertures 46 and 47 prevents such relative rotation between the sections 11 when the hollow auger is in the hole. The tapered pin 60 extends completely through the apertures 46 and 47 and has end portions 61 and 62 projecting from the opposite ends of the apertures and facilitating insertion and removal of the pin. Thus, if the pin 60 becomes tightly wedged within the apertures 46 and 47, it may be dislodged by striking the lower end 62 of the pin in an upward direction.

It will be evident from the above description that the present invention provides a hollow auger including coupling means wherein adjacent sections are securely coupled to one another, yet are easily uncoupled. It will also be evident that the coupling means of the present invention permits an internal hollow through the auger, said hollow being smooth and free of obstructions. It will be further evident that the coupling means of the present invention does not interfere with the passage of earth up the flightof the auger when the auger is in use.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims are also desired to be protected.

Theinvention claimed is: s s

1. A hollow auger comprising a pair of stems each having a flight on the external periphery thereof, one of said stems having an external thread at one end, the other of said stems having a complementary internal thread at one end, said stems being connected together by said external and internal threads with said flights in, alignment with each other, radially extending projections on the external surfaces of said stems, said projections havingaligned openings therethrough, and a pin received through said openings and blocking rotation of one of said stems relative to the other, said pin projecting externally of said auger from the opposite ends of said openings whereby said pin can be driven into said openings or out of said openings.

2. A hollow auger comprising a pair of stems each having a flight on the external periphery thereof and an opening therethrough of constant internal diameter, one of said stems having an external thread at one end, the other of said stems having a complementary internal thread at one end, said stems being connected together by said external and internal threads with said flights in alignment with each other, radially extending projections on the external surface of said stems, said projections having aligned openings therethrough, and a pin received through said openings and blocking rotation of one of said stems relative to the other, said pin projecting externally of said auger from the opposite ends of said open- 4 ings whereby said pin can be driven into said openings or out of said openings.

3. A hollow auger comprising a pair of generally cylindrical stems each having a flight secured to the external periphery thereof and an opening therethorug-h of constant internal diameter, the opening of one of said stems being equal in size to the opening of the other of said stems, one of said stems having a tapered external thread at one end, said thread tapering from a proximal end diameter smaller than the respective stem external periphery to a distal end diameter smaller than said proximal end diameter, the other of said sections having an internal thread at one end complementary to said external thread and larger in diameter than said opening, said stems, being connected together by said external and internal threads with said flights in alignment with each other, a radially extending projection on the external surface of each stern, said projections having aligned openings therethrough, and a pin received through said openings and blocking rotation of one of said stems relative to the other, said pin projecting externally of said auger'from the opposite ends of said openings whereby said pin can be driven into said openings or out of said openings.

4. A hollow auger comprising a pair of tubes each having a flight secured to the external periphery thereof and an equal constant internal diameter, a pair of castings each having a cylindrical opening therethrough of the same diameter as said tube internal diameter and each having a flight on the external surface thereof, each of said castings having at one end an annular internal recess which surrounds said opening and fixedly receives one end of a respective one of said tubes and positions it with the respective tubes flight in alignment with the casting flight and with the hollow interior of the respective casting in alignment with the opening of the respective tube, one of said castings having at its other end a tapered male thread, the other of said castings having at its other end a tapered female thread complementary to said male thread, said castings being connected together by said male and female threads with the flights of said castings in alignment with each other, a pair of projections adjacent to one another and each on one of said castings, said other casting flight and said projections having aligned apertures therethrough which uniformly taper from said other casting flight through said other casting projection and said one casting projection, and a tapered pin received through said apertures and blocking rotation of one of said castings relative to the other, said tapered pin projecting externally of said auger from the opposite ends 'of said apertures whereby said pin can be driven tightly into said apertures orout of said apertures.

5. A hollow auger comprising a pair of tubes each having a flight secured to the external periphery thereof and an equal constant internal diameter, a pair of castings each having a cylindrical opening therethrough of the same diameter as said tube internal diameter and each having a flight on the external surface thereof, each of said castings having at one'end an annular internal recess which surrounds said opening and fixedly receives one end of a respective one of said tubes and positions it with the respective tubes flight in alignment with the casting flight and with the'hollow interior of the respective casting in alignment with the opening of the respective tube, one of said castings having at its other end a tapered male thread, the other of said castings having at its other end a tapered female thread complementary to said male thread, said castings being connected together by said male and female threads with the flights of said castings in alignment with each other, a pair of projections adjacent to one another and each on one of said castings, said projections being positioned closer to the flight of the casting with the female thread than to the flight of the casting with the male thread, said other cast ing flight and said projections having aligned apertures therethrough which uniformly taper and converge from said other casting flight through said other casting projection and said one casting projection, and a tapered pin received through and complementary in shape to said apertures and blocking rotation of one of said castings relative to the other, said tapered pin projecting from the opposite ends of said apertures whereby said pin can be driven tightly into said apertures or driven out of said apertures.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Greve 285 -91 McCullard et a1. 28591 Boyd 285-91 Rassieur 175323 

1. A HOLLOW AUGER COMPRISING A PAIR OF STEMS EACH HAVING A FLIGHT ON THE EXTERNAL PERIPHERY THEREOF, ONE OF SAID STEMS HAVING AN EXTERNAL THREAD AT ONE END, THE OTHER OF SAID STEMS HAVING A COMPLEMENTARY INTERNAL THREAD AT ONE END, SAID STEMS BEING CONNECTED TOGETHER BY SAID EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL THREADS WITH SAID FLIGHTS IN ALIGNMENT WITH EACH OTHER, RADIALLY EXTENDS PROJECTIONS ON THE EXTERNAL SURFACES OF SAID STEMS, SAID PROJECTIONS HAVING ALIGNED OPENINGS THERETHROUGH, AND A PIN RECEIVED THROUGH SAID OPENINGS AND BLOCKING ROTATION OF ONE OF SAID STEMS RELATIVE TO THE OTHER, SAID PIN PROJECTING EXTERNALLY OF SAID AUGER FROM THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID OPENINGS WHEREBY SAID PIN CAN BE DRIVEN INTO SAID OPENINGS OR OUT OF SAID OPENINGS. 